Intermittent fasting. I’m amazed!

Yesterday’s intro about intermittent fasting got a lot of attention so clearly a lot of you are interested in learning more about it. I hope many of you will take the time to read the free e-book I mentioned which explains everything in great detail. Dr Berardi spent six months testing many different methods before he wrote about it so he is truly speaking from experience.

I am going to take the weekend to prepare my next blog about this topic, because it really is important to talk about every angle, positive and negative, and I want to be thorough.

I have to say, much of what Dr Berardi explains in his book is spot on and as I have been exploring two of the IF methods it has been so helpful to have his experiences to draw from as reassurance when I am hitting the tough moments. My workouts at the gym have definitely been tough.

But I will also say, I have had a lot of pleasant surprises too.

In the meantime it’s important to know that IF is definitely not for everyone, and I would not recommend it to anyone unless they had a really good handle on the necessary basics of nutrition first. If you can’t even stick to a well balanced, clean diet 90% of the time without implementing fasting, you definitely won’t be able to keep a handle on it with IF. One of two things will happen, you will crash and burn from not getting enough of your needed nutrients or you will end up going overboard on calories during the times you CAN eat.

Without a solid understanding of what foods your body needs and how much, IF will not work for you.

Healthy eating is a must

In addition, if you have a history of an eating disorder, IF most likely will not be a good choice for you either.

The good news is, IF is not necessary for weight loss, weight maintenance, or for a leaner physique. It is just another option.

Why am I trying IF? I did say I want to experience it first hand but I am also trying it because I have gotten to a point where my weight has leveled and if I do lose weight, I lose muscle. That means I lose strength.

I am happy at the weight I am and I want to keep getting stronger. I would like to get slightly leaner. According to the research, IF is an effective way to burn fat stores but maintain more of your muscle mass. So my hope is that if the number goes down on the scale during my IF trial, it will be mostly fat that I am losing and not my muscle.

Fat vs muscle

So far it appears that is exactly what is happening. It’s happening slowly but it is happening.

I will go into this more on Monday.

So enjoy your weekend everyone. If you didn’t read the IF e-book, give it a look over the weekend. And if you missed yesterday’s blog, you can find that here.

One Response

I’m doing IF typically 2x a week. I do it my “own” way right now, making sure I’m eating the 2 days following resistance training, but then usually fast the night/morning before my next event. (I am fed though before working out)

I usually get 16-17 hours of fast in before I eat my lunch, but have gone as high as 21 hours.

To be honest other than a desire to eat cereal after waking, I can make it through the morning just fine (as long as I am busy). A cup of black coffee may be some help, but I’ve gone without it too.

What surprises my friends is that I’m not lethargic. Maybe it’s because my fasting blood sugar is not super-low, but I don’t get any headaches for a 16 hour fast.

It’s helping me tone up a little, but I have far to go as my diet is not perfect.

Anyway, thought I’d share, as I’m pretty excited about IF and it’s potential long term health benefits.